Former NFL player's home searched

Denis J. O'Malley

Published 11:51 pm, Thursday, June 5, 2014

NEWTOWN -- Federal authorities searched a former NFL player's White Oak Road home last week in search of prescription painkillers after he sold undercover agents more than $6,000 worth of pills in two transactions, according to court documents.

Agents with the Drug Enforcement Administration's New Haven office searched the home of Gennaro DiNapoli on May 30, looking for oxycodone pills, bank records and "prescription paper used to create fraudulent scripts" after he was identified as a possible dealer in the area, according to a search warrant.

A growing problem with prescription drug abuse in the state led local DEA agents to focus their efforts in March and a source soon identified DiNapoli as an oxycodone dealer, the warrant states.

After identifying DiNapoli as a suspect, DEA agents twice went undercover to purchase oxycodone tablets from him at his home in April and May, according to the warrant.

The first buy amounted to $3,000 for 160 30-mg. pills. The second netted 170 pills for $3,200, according to the warrant.

The only drugs found during the May 30 search were medications prescribed to him and a woman who is not otherwise mentioned in the documents. Much of what investigators seized in the search were guns -- five shotguns, two rifles and four handguns, according to the warrant.

In applying for the warrant, investigators asserted the undercover purchases amounted to evidence of possession of narcotics with intent to sell.

As of Friday, DiNapoli had not been charged on either the federal or state level.

A spokesman for the DEA's New Haven office said the Danbury State's Attorney's office is handling the case.